November 12, 2023
SECU Arena (Capacity: 5,200)
Towson, MD
Towson Tigers vs Robert Morris Colonials
Final Score: 60 – 64
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A trip that included 3 games in 24 hours across college basketball-rich Maryland was capped off here in Towson, a community about 7 miles north of Baltimore. With a population of 60,000, Towson is one of the area’s largest suburbs and the center is quite busy commercially with a four-level shopping mall and plenty of surrounding stores and commerce. For a suburb, there’s also a surprising number of high-rises. The local University is a big one as the state school has around 22,000 students and is most known for their teaching program. Athletics has made a steady rise through the ranks, with the basketball team becoming Division I in 1979. After a decade of losing, they made the NCAAs for their first (and to date, only) appearances in 1990 and 1991. That success was short-lived as from the late 90s to early 2010s, it was a dismal period with losing records in each season. Current coach Pat Skerry got the team to be more competitive thereafter and there have been recent times where the Tigers have been near the top of the CAA. This exquisite basketball facility opened in 2013 and it has a near perfect design both inside and out. If food, team displays and atmosphere could step up, this would be a top stadium experience.
Prestige Ranking: 3.5 out of 5
Location
While campus is south of Towson’s center, the athletic section that includes the basketball arena and football stadium is even further south. On either side of this portion of campus are medical facilities. It takes less than 10 minutes to get downtown and there are plenty of restaurants to choose from once there. For visitors looking to make a day in Towson, there is the Hampton National Historic Site. A tour of the largest private residence built in its time is long-winded and boring at times, but it is part of the National Park system for those that like to see all of those. Also keep in mind that Baltimore and the attractions of the Inner Harbor can be reached in 30 minutes.
Location Ranking: 5.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
There is friendly interstate access to Towson via I-83 and I-695, but the location is not right off the exit. Needing to go a bit deeper into town, it’s easier to use Bosley Ave and avoid the center of Towson and the traffic circle. Parking right near the arena is in Lot 8 and with less than 350 spots, it is likely to fill up quickly. I arrived an hour before gametime to get a spot and when walking to the arena from here, make sure to cut through the Towson Center so you don’t have to walk around the connecting building. Because the arena is up on a hill, other parking options are sub-optimal. Once staff closes this lot because it is full, the next option is on the other side of the football stadium. There’s even a chance that isn’t enough to hold everybody and the final option is a ridiculous 15-minute walk to the Union Garage. Not sure how often that’s needed, but I did see a handful of people walking down Osler Drive after the game. Get here early. As for traffic, be mindful of weeknight rush hour in the area, otherwise local traffic is fine and police help direct and expedite after the game.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 6 out of 8
Exterior
This is such a striking building from the outside. The color combination of copper, slate and light gray goes together really well as the hillside setting provides different perspectives. Most of the lower side is made up of the gray brick while the panels above that combine with glass windows. Overhangs at different angles also add some intrigue making this more than just a square building. The outside may lack team colors and character, but it is a beautiful introduction.
Exterior Ranking: 9 out of 10
Concourse
Little used Gate 3 is a level down from the main arena, while Gate 2 and Gate 1 are at walkway level with the concourse. The majority of fans enter here and it puts you right inside the whole place as the floor and seating bowl are in sight. It’s great to have everything right there as a square walkway is found at the top of the first-level seats. You can stand and watch against the railing and also not miss a beat when leaving your seat. Color-scheme is appropriate as white walls have yellow and black features. The side with the suites overhead has the most space and that’s fine at most points of the game. Poor placement (and slow security) does mean congestion near the main entrance and after the game, staff needed to open more doors to get people out faster. An entry lobby would’ve helped with this. Stairs to get to the upper deck are tucked seamlessly into the concourse walls, they just need to turn the lights on here as I couldn’t believe how dark the stairwells were during my game.
Concourse Ranking: 4.5 out of 5
Food
This is an absolute embarrassment to the University. An incredible building that lived up to the cost and all you can muster are Hot Dogs, Pizza, Nachos, Pretzels and Popcorn? Even worse is that the first two items aren’t even appetizing. They at least have beer and a side room sells the most offerings. It was a strange lineup as they had a Kalamazoo Stout and a Christmas Ale, while the only local beer from “The Brewer’s Art” was tucked away to the side.
Food Ranking: 2 out of 8
Interior
This is a fantastic basketball arena and it starts with intimacy. You expect that for a 5,000 seat facility, but it’s hard to find a place that does it better. Seats in the first level go right up close to the benches as the floor-level walkway behind that isn’t too wide. They elevate the first row of seats slightly and then for pullout sections, they go up at a steeper angle than you would normally expect. These yellow seats are wide and comfortable enough. Behind the basket where the band is are the only bleachers in the place. The final two rows behind most sections feature cushy, wide black seats and these are deceptively described as “Club Seats”. The octagon shape is also generally followed in an upper deck as well, which provides a terrific vantage point as the ~9 rows are steep and not far from the court. You also won’t find any railing obstructions up here, an impressive feat. The exception to the octagon shape is on the north sideline as the upper deck stops for an overhang that looks like a copper box. This contains four suites and a meeting room. Downfalls in the arena are very minor with just a small few if being nitpicky. Before the corners, the last section on the sides have seats facing straight-ahead that are often looking behind the basket. Also there are some really long rows, including one in the upper deck where I counted 36 seats. That sucks if you have seat 18 for a concert that is sold out. That’s really it, small complaints for an exquisite arena with a color scheme of seating that makes it pop.
Interior Ranking: 13 out of 14
Scoreboard
The center scoreboard is the perfect size for the arena and it has four sides with a video screen that dominates most of it. The screen is clear and replay frequency is excellent. At the bottom is a scoreline with player stats. This is actually a bit fuzzy, but not a problem to read. Circular displays at the top and bottom often play ads. There are also lengthy displays on the façade that have a wealth of game stats.
Scoreboard Ranking: 3.5 out of 4
Displays
The banners on the wall above the upper bowl are extensive and honor each sport. For men’s basketball, you have the years for NCAA Tournament appearances, conference titles and NIT’s. You also have a 2012-13 banner for the largest single-season turnaround (what if that record gets broken?). The Tigers even have an NCAA Championship!……in Community Service. On the other hand, there is nothing else in the arena. Even if they don’t want to clutter up the walls around the walkway, they could use that aforementioned room with the alcohol and put some history in there, or at worst some pictures. Instead, you get cheap schedule posters placed haphazardly on the wall. At least outside the main entrance is an impressive Tiger statue that makes for a good meeting place or pre-game picture.
Displays Ranking: 2.5 out of 6
Cost
Tickets vary a bit based on opponent, but they generally are in the $10 – $20 range. The cushy corner seats are around $30 (you very likely could sneak into these if you so desire). These prices are within reason for the CAA and I also liked how you could snag a non-conference game seat for just $8 in the upper level. Parking being free is another plus. The few concessions had some wild pricing variety as a hot dog was $3, yet pizza was $10. A beer was a crazy $12.
Cost Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Fan Support
It was the home opener for the Tigers and this matchup led to a lower bowl that was half full and an upper bowl that was mostly empty. That probably produced a turnstile count around 1,500. Not great, but opponent, time of year and time of day (Sunday 7 PM) didn’t help. Students staggered in and I still saw some arrivals 30 minutes after tip. They were out in decent numbers and given the arena proximity from the dorms, I thought that it was a good showing from the kids. With many sporting options and other colleges in the area, Towson has a fan base predominately tied to the school and not too much coming from the town or surrounding area. In terms of attendance, the team is in the middle of the pack within the CAA and that’s also the case within the context of all Division I teams (ranking 178th out of 363 teams last year).
Fan Support Ranking: 4.5 out of 8
Atmosphere
The dispersed students throughout the bowl did not help the atmosphere. The group that did help was the pep band as they were into it the entire game not just with their instruments, but also their voice. Cheers and chants were clever and helpful (their misguided shot clock forced RMU into a bad shot twice). The rest of the crowd was eh and I say that because the final 5 minutes of the close game didn’t feel much different than the first 5 minutes. They didn’t have much energy and only the leading bucket with under a minute generated something that you could call as loud. Otherwise, baskets got applause and dunks got a louder cheer. This is an arena that has the potential to be very loud given the acoustics and credit to the band for helping to show that.
Atmosphere Ranking: 7.5 out of 14
Other Stuff
I was nervous this game wouldn’t happen because as I was touring the arena, I noticed something lying on the floor. It was the rim. Yup, the rim as a dunk during warm-ups took it clean off the backboard. Credit the Towson staff, who brought the apparatus back for repairs. Just before the ball was going to tip, something was a little wonky with the backboard and I had that nervous feeling as 5 people were standing looking at it with the refs. Thankfully it was nothing a socket wrench couldn’t take care of and after a 15-minute delay, the game got started…..Boooo to the security at the metal detectors who absolutely hated her job. The lady I had could not have been more unhappy to be there and she had to also draw out the process making things obscenely slow. The placement of this thorough check right near the entrance leads to a staggered and annoying entry into the arena…..The Baltimore Blast of the MASL, an indoor soccer fixture in the area, moved from downtown to Towson’s arena in 2017.
Game
Towson mostly controlled this game and big man Charles Thompson got off to a good start as the Tigers were dominant in the paint and RMU couldn’t make a field goal. However, the Colonials hung in and stayed within reaching distance. They even took the lead with under 5 minutes to go. As the game was tied during the final stretch, Christian May followed his own miss and put the Tigers up 2 with 42 seconds left. After an empty Robert Morris possession, the Tigers took care of business at the free throw line and they won 66-62. Thompson finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
